Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions

Hope Sandoval's band Mazzy Star was one of the premier dreampop/shoegaze bands of the '90s. They even had a mainstream hit with "Fade Into You". Unfortunately, they went on hiatus in 1997 and haven't come back yet. But that doesn't mean Sandoval isn't still working.

She recruited Colm O'Ciosoig of My Bloody Valentine and some other musicians (including Bert Jansch) and started her own band, the Warm Inventions, in 2000/2001. To date, they've released one full-length album and two EPs of material that might sound relatively familiar to Mazzy Star fans. The tempo doesn't go faster than a narcotized lope, the atmosphere is dreamy and floaty, and Sandoval's languorous voice still pours itself into the listener's ears like warm violet syrup.

But things aren't the same. Mazzy Star's music was fuzzed-out and had a tinge of innocence to it. Sandoval's more recent work is cooler, more adult. Her voice seems to have matured over the years into a smokier version of its earlier self. In many words: if Mazzy Star is all sparkles and vague satisfaction and the reflections of the streetlights off of the tinsel in darkened Christmas windows, then Hope Sandoval's solo efforts are that night you spent in Jamaica - you sat out on the balcony and listened to the palms shift in the allspice wind.